In the wake of its decision to ditch iTunes, we now know what NBC was really up to. It will be offering free downloads of popular television shows. The downsides are that a special player is required (Windows only), the content can only be viewed for a seven-day period from the show’s air date, and there are embedded advertisements that cannot be skipped. NBC intends to implement a pay system in the future, where users will “own” the download and be able to transfer it to iPods and such.